The YRGCARE Office of Research Administration (YRG-ORD) is an effort to strengthen the research administration capacity at YRGCARE and its scientific, academic and NGO partners. The project proposes to catalyze the YRGCARE research community to expand its research portfolio through the establishment of a fully developed ORD that will facilitate information exchange on grant opportunities and study progress. The objectives of the program are (a) Promotion of interdisciplinary research within YRGCARE (b) Develop collaborative research with external institutions and Industry (c) Ensure research is conducted in accordance with highest ethical standards (d) Integrate the benefits of research in to service projects of the organization and (e) communicate about the research activities conducted at; and by staff of, YRGCARE, using an engaging approach of internal working groups addressing communication; training and capacity building; information technology; logistics; and compliance issues. The project will develop and deliver a research intranet that will be accessible to YRGCARE researchers and those from affiliate organizations; a workflow process for reducing paperwork and seamless and structured progress of research approval processes; a budget control software that will bridge the gap between researchers and the research accounting team; and a communication package that will provide support in grant writing as well as in publication of study results as both abstracts and papers in peer reviewed journal. Specifically, the ORD will provide support to the research community at YRGCARE through (a) Review and process research applications for submission to sponsors (b) Review and assist with budgeting of various research studies (c) Negotiate and obtain awards (d) Maintain a database of grants and contracts and (e) Update faculty and staff on grant opportunities and sponsor policies. Under the capacity building plan of this project, the ORD will offer twice a year training courses in Good Clinical Practice, bioethics, research documentation and biosafety processes. The ORD will augment the regulatory affairs compliance that presently has an IRB and CAB, with an Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). YRGCARE is increasingly engaged in epidemiological, behavioral, and clinical and laboratory research and the YRG-ORD that will form an integral and permanent unit of the organization will be a comprehensive and timely response to the needs of its research community. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]